***Danubius specialize in Hungarian, Romanian, Transylvanian, Moldavian, Macedonian, Bulgarian and many other types of Balkan folk and gypsy music. Based around the San Francisco Bay Area, they enjoys access to a great deal of difficult musical terrain. Fans of Taraf de Haidouks, Muzsikas or Fanfare Ciocarlia and other Balkan musics already know that an aspiring musician couldn't merely dabble on the weekends and expect to produce anything (other than his own shame and embarassment). Danubius soars way above the hurdle. Their collective passion for doing things right yields a special intensity and remarkable musical payoffs. Whether bringing the house down and dropping jaws with their marvels or bickering over arrangement details, Danubius is destined to emerge from obscurity. Biographical Details: Budapest-born Jutka Mándoki grew up mostly in Oakland, has played keyboard and accordian instruments since childhood, and recently took up koboz (a lute, played in Romania, also known as cobza), viola, bass, tekerölant (hurdy-gurdy or wheel fiddle, played in Hungary), and ütögardon ("beaten cello" played by Hungarians in Romania). Since stumbling upon Hungarian / Romanian / Gypsy fiddle, Danubius director David Skuse has not wanted to do anything else. Skuse co-founded The Klezmorim, and has played with The Silver String Macedonian Band, The Balkanizers, and groups in Hungary. Roman Titcu is a virtuoso player of the cymbalom, or "tsambal" - Born in Moldova, he founded and directed Doina Besarabia. As a student at Chisinau's Music Conservatory, he majored in tsambal, conducting, and composition, performed on many...
CD $12.00
09/17/2002
MP3 $9.90
09/17/2002